ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

Brief summary: This prospective observational cohort study determined leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in 76 patients with genetically confirmed CAH (83% classic CAH). LTL was shorter in patients with classic vs nonclassic CAH, in overtreated than in optimally treated patients, and patients receiving prednisolone compared with hydrocortisone.Telomeres are tandem repeats of a noncoding hexameric nucleotide sequence (5′-TTAGGG-3′) located at the...

In Brief: The authors created mouse embryos in the laboratory from a combination of multiple stem cell lines. These embryos were developed ex vivo up to the equivalent of day 8.5 post-fertilization. Embryos developed within an extraembryonic yolk sac and were similar to whole natural embryos, with defined forebrain and midbrain regions, a beating heart-like structure, a neural tube and somites, a tail bud containing neuromesodermal progenitors, a gut tube, and also pr...

Brief summary: This pooled study, including five cross-sectional or intervention studies (n=24–823) and using publicly available data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to perform Mendelian randomization, investigated the influence of glucose, insulin, body fat, body mass index (BMI), food intake, and physical activity on serum soluble leptin receptor (sOb-R) levels. The authors showed that insulin and BMI were associated with decreased serum sOb-R level...

Brief Summary:Heterozygous, de novo variants in KIF5B are identified in 4 individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta. Studies of these KIF5B variants in C. elegans and cell models reveal the disease-causing mechanism. KIF5B seems important for intracellular trafficking and mTOR signaling to maintain skeletal homeostasis.Several years after the description of the last new osteogenesis imperfecta (OI)-related gene, the authors repo...

Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) is a severe disorder caused by genetic mutations in LDLR (encoding the LDL receptor), APOB or PCSK9. LDL-C levels in HoFH are extremely elevated)>400 mg/dL(even in utero, leading to cardiovascular events, and disability or death during childhood and adolescence. Conventional medications have minimal efficacy, since LDL-C levels cannot be reduced through upregulation of hepatic LDL receptors.<p c...

To read the full abstract: J Bone Miner Res 2018;33(7):1260-1271Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is characterized by early-onset skeletal fragility, often short stature, blue sclerae and some other features. OI is caused by mutations in the two genes encoding type I collagen, namely COL1A1 and COL1A2. Some previous reports have indicated that when the mutation involves the C-propeptide cleavage site in e...

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2021 Mar 25:dgab190. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgab190. PMID: 33765130. https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/106/7/e2557/6188450?redirectedFrom=fulltextIn brief: This multicentre cohort study explores the frequency, long-term outcomes and potential p...

Brief summary: Two unrelated patients with a disorder of sex development (DSD) phenotype of partial androgen insensitivity (PAIS) showed heterozygous variants in the DAAM2 gene. Their genital skin fibroblasts showed reduced dihydrotestosterone-stimulated androgen receptor (AR) activity. Extensive basic studies revealed the underlying mechanism of the DSD in which DAAM2-regulated actin polymerization at the ligand-inducible androgen receptor is required for androgen-st...

To read the full abstract: Nature Medicine. 2019;25(11):1733–8. PMID 31700171.These authors sequenced the gene for melanocortin-2 receptor accessory protein (MRAP2 ) in 9418 blood DNA samples from several population studies. They detected 23 rare heterozygous variants, which were significantly associated with an increased risk of obesity (OR 3.8 in children and 2.9 in adults)....

Front Genet. 2022 Mar 3;13:736988. PMID: 35309143, doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.736988.Brief Summary: This molecular study highlights a novel mechanism of action of Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 1 (MAP3K1) in the development of testicular dysgenesis.MAP3K1 is one of the most common genes that has been identified to cause 46, XY DSD and variants are attribu...